Changing Face of Fashion Through Time Quiz

Answer: Cleopatra

This movie told the story of the dying days of the great kingdom of Egypt as represented by its queen, Cleopatra. It featured a large and impressive cast. The three main ones however were Richard Burton as a Roman General Mark Anthony (Cleopatra's lover); Rex Harrison as the great Julius Caesar (another lover before Mr Anthony); and the beautiful Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra herself, the queen who was trying to cement her power and stabilise her kingdom. It had a tragic ending as we all know, with all three main protagonists destroyed, Egypt on the decline, and Rome with only a few hundred years left of its glory.

Both men and women wore togas as everyday clothing during the days of ancient Rome, and they wore them right up until the second century AD. After that, only men, and ladies of the night, wore the toga, while upper class women opted for more covering and fuller outfits. The distinction between the various classes of Roman society was reflected in the material and colours used to make the garment. An upper class man's toga would be made from finely woven wool of good quality, while someone from the lower classes would have a toga made out of coarse cheaper materials. Colours featured on togas represented position as well. Magistrates displayed a purple border on their garment, while the border of a general's toga was gold. Emperors of course wore the full purple. If any great celebration was underway, a red border on all togas marked the occasion.

Hardly any first hand accounts written about ancient Rome have survived. One such was "Ab Urbe Condita" by the Roman historian Titus Livius. This comprised 124 volumes, only 35 of which still exist. They cover most facets of Roman history and life from its beginnings to his own time period 59 BC to 17 AD. Most of our knowledge of the clothing worn in ancient Rome comes from historical research, and perhaps even the few statues remaining from that period of history. The movie "Cleopatra" helps to bring it all to life a little more.

Answer: Einhard

Einhard, the author of this work, lived from 775-840 and accompanied Charlemagne almost everywhere he went. What a source of first hand information! He describes Charlemagne's clothing thus:

"He used to wear...next to his skin a linen shirt and linen breeches, and above these a tunic...hose fastened by bands covered his lower limbs, and shoes his feet...he protected his shoulders and chest in winter by a close fitting coat" of animal skins. Charlemagne in fact despised fancy clothing "...and never allowed himself to be robed in them, except twice...".

By now men were also wearing trousers in many countries, as well as leggings and hose, but the latter were usually worn for extra warmth rather than a fashion statement, and were worn under the trousers. Towards the end of the medieval period, trousers were beginning to be shortened to just below the knee and stockings were worn to cover the lower half of the legs. Hoods and collars also appeared during this era. Women hardly got a look in fashion-wise. They usually wore a long outer tunic over a long, sleeved smock, with a bit of braided decoration thrown in here and there for good measure.

Answer: The Adventures of Robin Hood

This series starred Richard Greene, with the basic story line being that of the long running battle between Robin and the evil Sheriff of Nottingham, played by Alan Wheatley. It was highly inaccurate as far as a history lesson goes, as it appears Robin Hood was more legend than fact. The producers however did their best and consulted historians for various events which occurred in that period of history. They then tried, at least, to incorporate these facts into the series. You'll be pleased to know though that the fashions portrayed for women were fairly accurate. Upper class women that is. The lower classes just wore what they could get their hands on.

These upper class female fashions consisted then of long flowing dresses with tightly fitting bodices, and long bell like sleeves. Usually a dress of this kind was worn with a long tunic over it, but sometimes not. It was the hair fashions that were the most distinctive for this period of history. For women, that is. They wore their hair wound into a bun under a small, tight cap or bundled into a net. Over this a transparent veil was then placed, which usually hung down loosely on either side of the face. Tournaments and archery contests and sword fights peppered the series throughout, as did the love story between Robin and Lady Marian. The series "The Adventures of Robin Hood" ran from 1955 to 1960 with a total of 143 episodes produced.

Answer: Yes

Written and illustrated by the Limbourg Brothers, Barthelemy van Eyck and Jean Colombe, this book is said to be "most important illuminated manuscript of the 15th century" because of the wealth of every day life it details. The amazing thing about it is that it took almost 100 years to complete, so we also have a vivid and colourful first hand record of changing fashions over that time as well. Women went from wearing the longer waists of an earlier era to dresses with very high waistlines that were gathered over the stomach area, and featured decorated bodices on top. From there the dresses developed, over time, to ones featuring hooped skirts. This was the beginning of what would later be known as the farthingale - large hoops worn under skirts to produce a full, swaying effect as the ladies trotted along.

Necklines of dresses went up and down like the economy as well. Hairstyles and headdresses - now they were something else. They evolved from the dainty ones of the previous era to peculiar fashions featuring two horn-like projections covered by a floating veil; or one large pointed attachment like a dunce's cap with a floating veil also attached to its end. At the same time, a woman's beauty was classed by how high her forehead was, so the silly dills tended to shave their eyebrows and foreheads clear of any hair at all. It was a rich and colorful tapestry of life. Many paintings from this era also capture these fashions perfectly.

Men wore shorter jackets, doublets, long full sleeved shirts and hose at this time. A codpiece was attached in an appropriate place at the front of these hose breeches to accentuate the genital area. Over a period of time, men began to pad these codpieces to draw attention to that area of their anatomy even further, and this fashion lasted for quite some time. There's an excellent painting of Henry VIII ("Portrait of Henry VII) by Hans Holbein the Younger that captures this fad perfectly. It features Henry wearing an enormous codpiece. I'm inclined to think the painting should have been called "Wishful Thinking" instead.

Answer: Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

Johnny Depp played Captain Jack Sparrow in this movie, Geoffrey Rush played the villainous and desperate Barbossa, and the corset-clad Keira Knightley played the delectable Elizabeth Swann. Will, played by Orlando Bloom, has to rescue his true love, Elizabeth, who had been captured by the naughty Barbossa, or all would be lost.

It's a swashbuckling and exciting movie that provides a fun-filled trip into Fantasyland. Photographs of a corset can also be seen in Robert Wilson Schufeldt's book "Studies of the Human Form for Artists, Sculptors and Scientists".

A corset changes a woman's natural waistline to one that one that is unnaturally constricted and much smaller. This fashion accessory lasted for centuries and many women were known to faint when their corsets or "stays" were laced too tightly.

The idea of course was to emphasise an hour-glass shape to a woman's body. An 18 inch waist was the ideal size back then. Oh my gosh - that'd kill me if laced so tightly! The top of my head would burst open.

The corset went out of fashion following the second World War, but peculiarly so, it came back in the first decade of the 21st century as a fashion statement - worn, not under, but over one's clothing.

Answer: The Three Musketeers

This film also starred Oliver Reed, Richard Chamberlain and Frank Finlay as York's fellow musketeers. Great swordfights, bawdiness and slapstick comedy abounded in the movie as the valiant group battled with Cardinal Richelieu (played by Charlton Heston) and his schemes to ruin the king, Louis XIII. Based loosely on real historical events in which the story is set, the costumes that the actors wore in the film captured perfectly those worn by the real denizens of this century.

This production was one of several films about the three musketeers which Hollywood produced since the film industry first began.

As far as classical music goes, the time period in which the film was set was the Baroque period. It featured music that was as elaborate in ornamentation as the clothing from the era which produced it.

Answer: Pride and Prejudice

"Pride and Prejudice" starred Colin Firth as the tall, dark, handsome and proud Mr Darcy; and Jennifer Ehle as the beautiful, lively and prejudiced Elizabeth Bennett. It was one of the most wonderful love stories to hit our television screens. The two main actors were absolutely perfect for each other, both on screen, and, it seems, in real life, as they were a couple for a while. Oh Mr Darcy, be mine.

Just as the fashions for women grew daintier and more feminine during this historical period, so did men's fashions become more masculine. Gone was the foppish and effeminate posturing of the Georgian period as history moved into the Regency era. Fashion for men moved into high collars and jackets, trousers which buckled at the knee, with stockings below these, cravats and shorter, masculine type hair styles. And none more beautifully presented for both men and women than in this most excellent of television productions that was made in 1995.

Answer: Johann Strauss II

The waltz had its roots in Germany. Queen Victoria was strongly attached to her German ancestry, so this lovely addition was more than welcome at her court. As a young woman, she was known to dance the night away with her inexhaustible supply of energy. And oh goodness me, composed to the dance music of previous times where one kept a polite distance from one's partner, the wicked waltz allowed men and women to press together in close proximity as round and round the room they whirled! Many a future marriage began on a ballroom floor. One H.L. Menken would write of the waltz, somewhat insultingly, that it was "...irresistible. Try it on the fattest and sedatest, or even on the thinnest and most acidulous of women, and she will be ready, in ten minutes, for a healthy smack behind the door - nay, she will forthwith impart the embarrassing news that her husband misunderstands her and drinks too much and is going to Cleveland, O, on a business trip tomorrow."

Johann Strauss II was born in 1825 and died in 1899. From his creative mind poured the most exquisite music, and perhaps, more than any other "The Blue Danube Waltz" is one piece of music forever associated with his name.

Fashions for men during this time in history changed from the knickerbocker type trousers to snugly fitting long legged ones, buckled shoes, the beginning of the tie, high collars still, and long coats with fitted waists. Head gear for the man of fashion from high society was the top hat. Women had to content themselves, apart from ball gowns, with long full skirts, bustles, and bonnets.

Answer: Irene Castle

Irene (1893-1969) and her husband Vernon were renowned for their professional ballroom dancing and the number of clubs and dance studios they set up in various parts of New York city in the early part of this century. They also appeared in several early movies where skilled dancing displays were required. Such was their fame, that they were easily able to demand, and receive, as much as one thousand dollars an hour, a huge amount of money in those days, just to give dance lessons. When Irene cut her long hair short in 1915 to make dancing less tedious (and warm) for her, she set off a controversy that went on for years.

Gone was the long hair that symbolised repression and control, in its place the bob - a style that represented freedom of movement and thought. In New York city, as many as 2,000 women each day were having their hair bobbed. As a result, they were banned from some functions if they were bobbed; preachers thundered "A bobbed woman is a disgraced woman!" from their pulpits; a teacher in New Jersey was told to grow her hair or face dismissal by the Education Board there; a large store fired all its female employees who were bobbed; doctors tried to convince women the new style was bad for their health; and men even divorced their wives over the new hairstyle. The bob represented so much more than just a haircut you see. Women were emerging to demand an equal place in society. They wore short dresses which revealed their legs right up to their knees (shock!); they began wearing rolled stockings and rubbing rouge on those knees to make them look more appealing (horror!); started dancing the daring new routines where everything that wasn't tied down wiggled (Hellfire!); and, worse still, they even began to demand the vote (Armageddon is upon us!).

Society's values and expectations had changed forever - and all because of a woman who danced for a living decided to match her dancing with a convenient hair style.

Answer: Star Trek: The Next Generation

The producers of this excellent series which starred the fine Shakespearian actor, Patrick Stewart, in the role as Captain Jean-Luc Picard, ran from 1987 to 1994. Its setting is the 24th century. After the first couple of its episodes, the producers hastily changed the outfits of the female crew to a more or less uni-sex style, where both men and women wore the same outfits.

The only differences in those outfits worn on board the star ship "Enterprise" was the colour of those uniforms, with different colours representing various qualifications and skills. Perhaps this is where humanity will go in its own fashions in the future, and all its clothing will become uni-sex as well. Who knows? But let us all pray, ladies, that at the very least, those fashions never include the comeback of the bonnet or the corset.